Overview
The Business Unit Director on Absa is expected to be data driven, insights lead and a creative thinker, who strives to make meaningful impact on the business.
You will be required to collaborate with Absa’s creative agency partners to ensure the smooth running of the media requirements on the account. As a BUD in charge of a portfolio on Absa, you will be responsible for ensuring that the media team meet their deliverables, deadlines and KPIs collaboratively.
You will need to work seamlessly with the Publicis Media Ad Operations, Data Science, and Buying teams to ensure:
- The smooth briefing and running of campaigns in accordance with the briefs.
- That all billing happens on time and queries are quickly resolved.
- The necessary reporting, taxonomy and tagging is implemented and delivered.
This role demands confidence, presence and the skills to make a meaningful impact. Starcom BUDs are expected to direct, inspire and add value at every turn, rather than just executing orders. As a BUD, you will need to be proactive, steer and direct the team, and with the direct team and in‑direct partner teams, solve client, operations and strategic briefs and challenges.
A high level of collaboration, a willingness to teach others, and a real desire to push the boundaries are expected. As the portfolio lead you will need to exemplify how to best collaborate with internal and external creative and PR agency partners. You will need to constructively highlight possible creative gaps in creative delivery for media execution.
In addition, this role requires a high level of accountability and responsibility over the digital media investments we are entrusted to manage. As a portfolio BUD you need to ensure the team is correctly pacing, tracking and delivering against targets and KPIs.
Some working outside the standard working hours may be necessary.
Responsibilities
- Lead the teams, the contractual delivery, operational adherence, financial management and output quality and turnaround within your portfolio. Ensure effective delivery against the Scope of Work, Service Level Agreement, data protection and financial remuneration on the account.
- Direct and work with strategists to deliver quality outputs, and remain responsible for the delivery of Business Reviews, portfolio management, optimisation and buying strategies.
- Deliver all reports and deliverables required for client senior management.
- Resolve account challenges with a solution‑driven mindset, whilst maintaining strong relationships with colleagues, agency partners, media owners and clients.
- Drive Starcom’s data‑led approach, ensuring that local and global tools are used to provide data to guide strategic decision‑making.
- Maintain a strong relationship with client and agency partners, working collaboratively to ensure alignment to the client’s strategic direction.
- Demonstrate real passion, care and vision for the people and brands in your portfolio.
What You Can Expect In An Average Week
You will be involved with numerous brand managers, so it’s important to develop a good understanding and identify specific business needs for each one.
Your Average Week May Include
- Attend key strategic briefings, status meetings, integration meetings with agency partners.
- Produce and present media strategies.
- Prepare and deliver insights decks on consumer and media trends, landscapes, and QBRs – in partnership with planners, Research & Insights team and digital implementation team.
- Share pertinent and relevant insights reports with client.
- Be present and on time for all required meetings.
- Work collaboratively with our clients, colleagues, and creative agency partners.
- Review and direct all offline and online media outputs.
- Collaboratively work with and direct the digital media planners, campaign managers, DV360 and search specialists.
- Work collaboratively within the Digital Advertising Operations, Client Success, Media Buying, and Creative Teams.
- Write and present internal briefs across all disciplines, monitor progress, direct optimisation changes, avoid under/over‑spends and provide insight to post‑campaign reports.
- Sign off all media billing packs relevant to your portfolio, to ensure alignment and avoid under and overspends.
- Update monthly forecasting reports.
- Ensure that your time sheets are maintained and updated in a timely manner.
Qualifications
- A marketing, media or communications degree, diploma or certificate.
Experience
- At least 10 years of media experience in an agency.
Hard Skills
- Project management proficiency.
- Strong presentation skills.
- Numerically strong and analytically able.
- Strong communication with effective interpersonal relationships across team and clients.
- Advanced IT skills including Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel, Outlook and web‑based applications.
- The ability to synthesize and reduce different inputs to create a well‑considered and accurate representative view.
- English fluency and language skills for effective business writing.
- Solid data interpretation and analytics skills.
- Ability to exercise strategic principles and structured thinking to tackle business development projects assigned by client.
- Ability to select appropriate frameworks, tools and approaches to use in solving client problems.
- Develop strategies that interpret cultural and social trends as well as data relevant to client business.
Soft Skills
- Works well in a high‑performance environment.
- Is open to constructive feedback and challenges accordingly.
- Is effective at building relationships and working as a team.
- Shows leadership and decision‑making ability.
- Manages change well – adapts and remains flexible to business priorities.
- Ability to collaborate without ego as well as work effectively independently.
- Is willing to transfer skills and share knowledge openly.
- Ability to self‑start and self‑manage.
Additional Information
Together with the teams on the account (Insights, Planning, Buying & AdOps), you will be required to build, monitor and maintain the following across your portfolio of accounts:
Finance And Other Reports
- Monthly / Weekly (client dependent) consolidated media flow plans – detailing timing of activity and media spend per month – actuals and projections for the client and Starcom’s financial year.
- Monthly Discount Tracking report.
- Monthly Partner Commitment Tracking report.
- Competitive spend / investment reports – local and globally reported.
Acrately and timely deliver internal reports required internally:
- Monthly media investment and revenue forecast reports, including programmatic.
- Monthly team/talent updates.
- Monthly Write‑off report.
Operations
- At a minimum, hold a weekly project meeting and maintain an updated project status.
- Lead internal team status meeting and unlock administrative and operational roadblocks.
- Work closely with Operations and Ad Operations to ensure the smooth running, operations and output of the account are maintained in the most frictionless manner possible.
- Ensure client contact reports are completed and socialised.
- Connect with the head of operation and buying at least once per month.
- Connect with the head of Ad Operations and Reporting once per month.
- Follow and guide the team through all operational processes.
- Management expectations around delivery time, SLAs, receipt of creative from partner agencies.
Financial Management
- Ensure budgets are properly managed and financial losses mitigated due to under/over‑spends.
- Ensure PO trackers are kept up to date.
- Using the age reports, ensure clients are kept up to date with payments and any outstanding amounts are managed in a timely manner.
- Deal with all account payable queries timely.
- Mitigate risks where possible and keep a record of all over‑spends.
- Work with the MD to update and renew client contracts.
- Ensure time sheets are managed and approved.
- Ensure leave is responsibly managed, forward planned and approved.
- Follow and guide the team through all financial processes.
Service
- Ensure regular and effective meetings with clients – marketing managers and senior managers, including CMOs.
- Ensure quick and responsive action to all client queries.
- Work with the client and maintain a commonly agreed way of working – drawing from the contract SLAs and client and internal processes.
- Regularly report back on the health of the client relationship in monthly meetings with the MD.
- When client satisfaction survey is deployed on the account, the following actions:
- ensure that the completion rate is sufficient.
- that corrections for improvements are provided and implemented.
- that meetings are attended.
Team
- Motivate and support your team.
- Ensure that the team’s time is effectively and responsibly managed, prioritised and billed for.
- Report back and make recommendations on top performers and under‑achievers.
- Provide regular feedback on the health, wellness and motivation of the team monthly.
- Guide the team through all people and talent related processes.
- Work with the Head of Digital at Publicis Media, to develop and arrange digital media training.
- Work with the leadership teams to develop and arrange all media training and hold the team accountable for attendance and completion of the courses.
Meet client KPIs
- The KPI’s for each client are governed by the commercial agreements. All client required KPI’s need to be properly tracked, met and exceeded.
- The SLA’s for each client are governed by the commercial agreement or Ways of Working agreements. All client SLA’s need to be managed and met.
- Objections to either of the above need to be responsibly raised and together the MD effectively managed with client.
Optimisation
- The BUD is required to drive and deliver ongoing incremental media optimisations and guide the team to make strategic recommendations for further optimisation, with the platform specialists and strategists on each portfolio.
- Ensure that optimisation recommendations are fed back to the client and the creative teams.
- Adopt the use of Publicis tools to ensure optimum results are obtained.
Data-Lead
- To deeply understand the market, audiences and segments that will unlock market growth and opportunity on your portfolio. Work with the research, analytics and strategic teams.
- To unearth and deliver the best media owner relationships and partnerships that deliver business outcomes and creative media opportunities. You will be required to have trading discussions with the Head of Trading at Publicis Media, including accurate budget forecasting and spend projections with media owners to meet Publicis Media’s commitments.
Awards & Case Studies
- To produce award‑winning entries and case studies that demonstrate real impact and results for our clients – for internal and external pitches and awards.
- Together with the team, successfully meet the client’s contracted KPI’s and the commercial targets.
Digital Reporting & Data Science
- Interface and work collaboratively with the Data Science and AdOps Reporting teams.
- Manage the portfolio’s digital planning team and the timely and accurate delivery of media schedules, creative matrices, tracking tags and reports.
- Maintain highest taxonomy standards.
You Will Have The Following People Report To You
- Media Strategists x 3+
- Media planner x 3+
- Reporting analysts x 2+
- Note: All campaign managers and traffic controllers will report to the Ad Operations lead.
- You will be required to manage leave and timesheets.
- You will manage their performance reviews, and career conversations.
- Help the teams prioritise workloads and manage client expectations.
- You will be required cohesively manage the team, and drive the Starcom culture.
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